Have you looked up your logo before you signed it off?

Many companies, especially start-ups, do not have the budget for sophisticated branding, or at least, for a good, well-thought-out and thoroughly researched logo. Sometimes they hire cheap, often off-shore designers or use ready-made stock logos without investing further in the consistency of their branding materials. How will such an approach (“this will do” attitude) impact their customers? What does a cheap or stock logo say about a company?

Identity design is a time-consuming job. It requires hours of work spent on brainstorming, sketching and, not to forget, on proper research. In order to meet the highest standards, a good logo needs to be properly conceptualised, well designed and unique. In particular, the aspect of uniqueness is often underestimated. In the current crowded market, making sure that a company’s logo idea hasn’t already been implemented in some similar form by somebody else is pivotal.

Brand identity is a business’s face that forms part of the overall brand. It is something that, very likely, will be linked with a company for many years to come. A company that cares about its brand identity cannot afford to have a logo which is not unique enough to stand out from the crowd.

In order to cut the costs, or rather to accommodate low budgets for logo design, many designers do not expend the resources to perform a proper research, and offer quick, very predictable and common solutions.

The Internet offers very simple options for image search and it’s highly advised to carry one out before the logo goes live. This is a critical step, if you care about the public face of your business, and, of course, about investing in it. Don’t you believe me? Look how many times the Fibonacci pattern has been used!